Take Me Out to the Ballgame
by missy52061
Summary: Kate takes Jake to a Mets game. Fluffy story that popped into my head when I was sitting in the rain yesterday at Citifield. In my Castle headcanon, the Becketts are Mets fans and the Castle kids are too. And I don't own Castle.


A few years ago, when Lily was feeling left out, Kate and Rick had instituted a one-on-one day with her, and now that Jake and Reece were older, they did it with them. Rick would plan the special days with the kids, she surprised them. It was always fun to wake one of her babies on his or her special day and share the plans with them. She had found that it really didn't matter what they did, all of those days were special and fun.

So today was Jake's special day with her, and she had decided to take him to today's Mets game. All of her kids loved the Mets like she did, so they often went to a Mets game. But she thought Jake would like this one: they were giving away a Mets chip bowl and Jake's favorite treat was potato chips. His eyes had brightened with excitement first when Kate told him they were going to the game and they got even brighter when she told him about the promotion.

They usually took the subway, but since it was a dreary day, she decided to take the car. After they kissed the rest of the family good-bye (they were going to bake cookies with Alexis as their special treat), Kate grabbed the "family outing" backpack, and headed to the garage. As she strapped Jake into his seat, he was telling her everything he wanted to do when they got to Citifield – he wanted to look at the pictures in the Mets Hall of Fame, he wanted to see if they had a new mug for Daddy, he wanted to eat a hot dog and have ice cream in a helmet – and she smiled as he talked. Usually, Jake let Reece do the talking for them, but at times like this, they heard plenty from him.

He stopped talking and then he said, "Let's sing Mama!" He had a great voice, and Rick and Kate always encouraged him to sing. She told him that was a great idea, and asked him what he wanted to sing. He answered, "The baseball song!" So she started to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", but he said, "That's not the song I mean!" Then she started singing "Meet the Mets", but that wasn't what he wanted to sing either.

"What baseball song do you want to sing?" she asked him. She couldn't figure out what song he meant. "Sing it for me, sweetheart!"

She watched him take a breath, and then he started to sing. "Oh say, can you see.." She started to laugh.

"The National Anthem? That's the 'baseball song'?"

"Yeah, Mama! They sing it before every game, right?" Kate had to admit he was right, and the two of them sang it together. By the time they were finished, they had arrived at the stadium. Since the weather wasn't that great – it was raining a bit, and the weather girl had predicted a cloudy day – the lot was kind of empty. She took him out of his seat, and they walked over to the gate. She had the tickets out and let Jake hold them. He was just like his sister Lily – he knew exactly what to do and smiled at the ticket checker when her barcode reader wasn't working. Once they were cleared to go inside, he pulled on her hand to make her go where they were handing out the bowls. He wanted to open it right away, but Kate pointed out how sad he would be if it got broken before he got home. He nodded and handed the box to her so she could put it away.

After they settled that, Kate let him look at all the pictures and displays in the Mets Hall of Fame. She told him stories of watching some of the players on TV while sitting on her dad's lap or in the stands with her mom and dad. She told him what she remembered about the 1986 World Series champion team and of the other Mets teams that got to the World Series and won. She also told him about how it was hard to watch the other New York baseball team win when your favorite team didn't. But she told him about how much fun it was when your team won when no-one expected them to. She told him that hopefully he'd get to see the Mets win the World Series someday soon.

It was still raining, and the start of the game was delayed a bit. But she and Jake didn't mind. They were lucky – the tickets they had allowed them to sit inside one of the clubs. She got them each a hot dog and they shared the drink. (She knew it was crazy to spend a lot of money on a drink just to be able to keep the cup, but she couldn't help herself. She loved those souvenir cups!) She cut up Jake's hot dog just to be safe and put a pile of ketchup on the plate. It always amused her father to watch Jake dip his hot dog in ketchup – "just like you Katie!" – since most people liked theirs with mustard. The two of them enjoyed their lunch while they watched the grounds crew start to remove the tarp. "Look, Mama! They're taking the tarp off the grass! They're taking the tarp off!" Her son had watched enough baseball in his young life to know what that meant – the game was going to start.

And Kate also knew her son; she knew he wouldn't be happy sitting inside when he could be sitting in a seat watching the game close up. She had come prepared – some old towels to wipe off the seats and others to sit on; they each had a sweatshirt and a hat; she had brought an umbrella – so she helped him gather up his garbage and throw it away. She bundled him into his sweatshirt and put on her own and they went to their seats. It was still raining, but it wasn't raining too hard. And watching her son's excitement made her feel a little bit warmer. He cheered when they announced the Mets lineup, he stood up and took off his cap to sing "the baseball song", and when the game started, he cheered every time the Mets did something good.

But one of the highlights of the day happened when the PA announcer said it was "Emoji Cam" time. They would put a picture of an emoji on the scoreboard and find a fan trying to copy it. When they put the "face with tongue" emoji up there, they used Jake's version of it! She and Jake laughed when they realized what happened.

So when the game ended with the Mets beating the Phillies 6-4, their happy day at the ballpark was complete. Jake managed to walk to the car but almost as soon as they got on the road, he fell asleep in his seat. After every single one of these special "Mommy – Kid" days, Kate would think about how lucky she was. Not only did she have a great husband, she had some great kids. And they were happy and healthy and smart – certainly smart enough to be Mets fans like their mom.

 **A/N: I was inspired by a few things. I was at yesterday's (September 9) Mets game. All of the things Kate and Jake experienced – the rainy day, the chip bowl promotion and the final score and who the Mets played – are the same. The kid who was excited to see the tarp come off was a little kid that was standing near me yesterday. The young kid that wanted her mother to sing "the baseball song" and meant the National Anthem was my youngest sister when she was about 3 years old. (and my mom sang the same songs Kate did, and my sister had the same reason Jake did). And the emoji cam story happened to one of the young boys who played the Castle twins during the last episode. Even though the Mets do not do that, I worked it into this story.**


End file.
